Magic

Basic vs Advanced

Winter of Wolves is a Rule-based RP, but that doesn't mean we want players to have to crunch numbers and learn the whole system to play. Pretty much all of the game can be played with basic rules, for which you only need to know the information written out here. Sometimes, there will be advanced rules which can be handled back stage by the GM, whenever you see text Written like this, these are advanced rules and you can feel free to ignore them if you don't want to get into the mechanics of the RP.

Magic in Winter of Wolves is made up of three elements which any magician must know and possess. Magic is not one of the exact sciences of the DaGuerrians, it is the act of altering the world around oneself by sheer force of will. Many times, tampering with the spirits that rule the forces of the world in such a way may have unforeseen and unpredictable consequences. As such, whenever a character uses a magical spell there are no assurances that the result would be what they expect, even when they have cast the same incantation many times before.

Magical incantations are made of three different elements which a caster must have or know. These are the Invocation, the Focus and the Formulae.

The Invocation

The invocation is the first word of any magical incantation, which all mages know. The invocation calls for the aid of a particular spirit or god of the Majai in bending the world to the caster's will. When a character first learns magic he must choose a favored spirit which will grant him greater power, but in exchange, the character may not invoke the opposing the spirit opposing their own. (Ighina - Hydara, Tara - Elea, Nox - Lvx). Every magical incantation or spell begins with an invocation to one of the spirits.

A focus is an object that around which a magician's or spirit's power coalesces. It becomes the target of incantations or serves to aim them at enemies. Without a powerful focus, the energies called forth by a magician's incantation scatter like snow in a strong wind, unable to find an object of power to direct them. Not any object can be a magical focus, the artifact selected must be of great significance to the spell-caster and the great majority of casters can only support one focus at a time. The very nature of the focus may affects spells cast on them, ancient artifacts carried through generations can hold much greater power than newly crafted ones, objects made of noble or rare materials are better conductors of magical energy and the object's function will determine the nature of the magic it holds. The same spell might be a shield when cast on a piece of cloth, and a weapon when cast on a blade.

Should a spell-caster lose his Focus, he'll be unable to use magic until the GM determines he's developed a sufficient attachment to a new one, and even then, a new focus might prove wily and unpredictable.

The Formulae

The last part of an invocation is the Formulae. Formulae are words of power one strings together to direct the energy of a spell. The order in which one calls out the Formulae has a great effect in the spell and one never knows what could happen with each change in the order of a spell. Just listening to a Formulae is rarely enough to learn it, and few magicians ever get to truly know more than a few words of power. Even then, the words that are known are jealously guarded, many are passed down through generations of the same wizard family, or gleaned from nigh impossible to obtain sacred texts. Each Formulae can fill a book worth of minute instructions, movements and rituals that must be performed in order for it to work and all but the most accomplished casters can spend weeks trying to simply learn one. All magicians should be jealous of their Formulae, for the knowledge is a powerful bargaining tool when negotiating with other spell-casters and the promise of new word of power is usually worth more than a bag of gold.

In the game, one must use magic by declaring an invocation and one or more Formulae. The GM will then decide the effect of the spell based on the invocation, formulae and focus being used. Whenever a character uses an incantation it uses up their Willpower skill at a rate of 1 point, plus 1 extra point per Formulae in the spell. Willpower recovers naturally at the rate of 1 point per turn. If a character runs out of Willpower, any incantations they attempt will miscast.

Additionally, in order to successfully cast a spell you must overcome a Magic test with a difficulty equal to the number of Formulae used in it. Characters might also attempt to resist spells using an appropriate skill determined by the GM with a difficulty of the number of Formulae in the spell +1.

Characters with certain traits, proficiency and backgrounds might start with a focus and knowing a few formulae, which they may pick from the following list. Should a character not have a single formulae he may choose to spend 10 XP to learn his first formulae. Additionally, should a character not start out with a focus he may spend 10XP to turn one of his current items into a his first focus. Subsequent magical focus cost 10 more XP each time. (Eg. 20XP, 30Xp and so on).